The 10 Largest Watch Brands in 2025: Rolex's Dominance and the Industry's Future
The watch industry is facing a challenging period, with exports down and sales declining for large conglomerates. However, amidst these difficulties, Rolex remains the undisputed king, with sales exceeding CHF 10 billion. This is one of the key findings from Vontobel's recent report, which provides a nuanced analysis of the top 10 watch brands for 2025.
Vontobel, a Swiss bank with genuine credibility in producing annual reports on the watch industry and luxury goods, is one of a handful of organizations that provides valuable insights. Led by Jean-Philippe Bertschy, Head of Swiss Equity Research at Vontobel, the latest report highlights the current transformation of the industry. The report's key finding is the following chart, ranking the top 10 watch brands in 2025, according to Vontobel's estimates.
One of the most notable aspects of this chart is the relative scale of Rolex compared with its competitors. Rolex's sales are equivalent to the combined sales of the next five competitors. This shows that there is a real polarization of the industry, or that "the industry is becoming increasingly oligopolistic," as Vontobel puts it. Almost all are positioned at the higher end, except Tissot and Longines, which operate in the lower segment of the industry.
The report indicates that in the "premium segment above CHF 500, the top ten brands now account for nearly 70% of export volumes, while concentration rises above 80% in the segment above CHF 3,000, underscoring the systemic importance of a handful of dominant players for the watch supply chain." Over the past couple of years, only a handful of brands managed to maintain or grow volumes – unsurprisingly, these are large independent firms such as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille, with Cartier also benefiting from a strong momentum.
Vontobel's report also highlights that an increasing share of Rolex's revenues comes from its Certified Pre-Owned program, now a major contributor, with "estimated sales of CHF 500 mn in 2025." Things have changed quite drastically over the past decade. Indeed, as Vontobel adds, "back in 2019, Swatch Group was the biggest watch company measured by watch sales. Six years later, both Rolex Group (incl. Tudor) and Richemont’s watch sales surpassed those of the traditional bands, thanks to exceptional growth at Rolex and Cartier in particular."
However, the situation is two-fold. While major brands report higher results, this growth masks a decline in volume in the traditional core segment of luxury Swiss-made watches (export price above CHF 3,000). As Vontobel explains, "over the past two years, the segment above CHF 3,000 has exported roughly 220,000 fewer watches, a decline of just over 10%, confirming that even the high end is not immune to volume pressure." But that’s only one side of the coin, as in the meantime, Vontobel "estimates that watches priced above CHF 20,000 have increased substantially over the same period, by nearly 50,000 additional pieces. This implies that the "core" high-end segment between CHF 3,000 and CHF 20,000 has shrunk even more sharply."
This reinforces the idea that ultra-luxury is absorbing a growing share of the industry while the core range of Swiss watches suffers, with volumes squeezed. Last but certainly not least, Vontobel indicates that Rolex has trimmed production in 2025 for the second year in a row, but "most likely by design, as the brand prioritizes scarcity and pricing power over incremental unit growth."
To understand more about the evolution of the luxury watch industry, we will interview Jean-Philippe Bertschy, Head of Swiss Equity Research at Vontobel, in the coming days. We also await the publication of LuxeConsult/Morgan Stanley’s reports.
